The handling of molds in foundries involves extensive manual manipulation and control during the handling and transfer of individual molds, and hence the manufacture of castings has necessarily been extremely time-consuming and inefficient. While various apparatus have been introduced into foundries to facilitate the handling or filling or transporting of molds, nevertheless most of the technology has related solely to individual work stations or operations, and hence has not successfully or significantly improved the overall casting operation. Further, most casting operations have employed many discrete and seemingly unrelated apparatus which are utilized for carrying out the complete casting process. The resulting system is such as to occupy an undesirably large space within the foundry, so that optimum and efficient production within minimal working space has been a long sought-after but seldom achieved objective.
Thus, the present invention relates to an improved mold handling system, specifically a system of the type which utilizes recirculating mold cars confined for displacement along a closed loop or path, for permitting efficient handling of molds both before and during pouring, and efficient handling of molds during cooling and dumping thereof, with the empty cars being efficiently returned so as to be reused. This improved system performs in an efficient and effective manner, requires only minimal manual supervision and control, permits maximum storage of a large number of molds both prior to and after pouring, and occupies minimal space within the foundry.
In the improved mold handling system of this invention, the cars are moved along a closed loop which projects vertically for minimizing required floor space. The empty cars are vertically raised by a first elevator located at one end of the loop for positioning an empty car adjacent a mold-handling conveyor, whereupon one or more molds are pushed onto the empty car, from which it is transferred into a pre-pour mold storage. From this storage the mold-bearing car is moved forwardly along a guide rail onto a second elevator which lifts the car upwardly adjacent an elevated pouring deck. As the mold is elevated, a jacket and weight are automatically deposited thereon, and the mold is poured while the car rests on the second elevator. The mold-bearing car is then moved forwardly along a guide rail through a jacket-and-weight transfer station. When reaching the end of this station, the jacket and weight are automatically removed and recycled back for positioning on another mold arriving on the second elevator. After the jacket and weight are removed, the mold-bearing car is moved forwardly along the guide rail through a cooling region, which region may be of two levels with the individual cars being positioned on either level by means of elevators. Upon reaching the end of the cooling section, the mold car is transferred onto a third elevator which, when in its raised position, is tiltable so that the mold is dumped from the car, with the car being cleaned by a suitable brush. After dumping, the third elevator is lowered and the mold car transferred onto a lowermost return guide rail which, through a walking beam arrangement, transfers the empty cars back to the first elevator. The return guide rail, together with at least a portion of the rail defining the pre-pour mold storage, extends in parallel relationship beneath the elevated pouring deck so that a maximum number of cars can be recirculated along the path while minimizing the required floor space within the foundry.
This invention also relates to an improved method for handling molds, specifically a method which involves a recirculating system of cars, which method is explained in greater detail hereinafter.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent after reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.